The Bellows

• When you actually sit down to play the harmonium, you need to first familiarize yourself with the physical actions required to perform on the instrument. Oftentimes, the harmonium is played while seated, whether on the floor or a bench. The instrument makes its sound much like an accordion; a series of bellows you operate with your hand or foot pump air through the reeds of the instrument, producing sound when you hit a key. Really, the most important skill to develop is manipulating the bellows. Besides this, the instrument is set up with a conventional keyboard, like a piano or accordion. This first thing you must learn to do is draw air into the instrument. You can do this by engaging the foot or hand draw. Now that air is in the instrument, disengage the draw, forcing air out. While the air is exiting, you can hit notes on the keyboard to create the musical tones of the harmonium. Being able to time your inhaling draws with your exhaling draws is similar to the way you sing.
  
  

The Keyboard

• Once you get a hang of the bellows, performing on the instrument is relatively easy, if you have any keyboard experience. If not, basically a keyboard is a series of white and black keys. The white keys are named in succession, C-D-E-F-G-A-B, and the black keys are respectively C#-D#-F#-G#-A#. To know where C begins, it is the key right below the set of two black keys, and the second white key above the set of three black keys. Now that you know how the keyboard is laid out, all you need to do is strike keys while air is being forced out of the harmonium. You can strike one single key at a time or multiple keys, creating stacks of notes called chords.